Book Release Update

And cover concept reveal!

Recap

Hi everyone! The last chapter of “My Favorite Suspects” (story guide at this link) was released in July and I began work on turning that serialized story into a novel.

At the same time, I announced the next series for the MFS Substack, along with a cover art teaser, titled “They Also Breathe Fire.”

Novelization

As I wrote and published the “My Favorite Suspects” story, I felt that it could benefit from expanding some elements into full subplots. I began planning the expansion before I actually completed and released the last chapter here on MFS.

The idea for the subplots was to enrich the main storyline and provide some depth for Terry’s character and additional conflict and tension. I also wanted to bump the story to a short novel length, about 60% of the length of my debut novel, The Good Killers.

I wanted to keep the novel short to preserve the tone and pacing of the serial and for practical reasons. From your feedback, I know that you don’t have a lot of time to read, so I decided to try a shorter book that has shorter scenes and chapters, so you can read it while taking a break or waiting in the doctor’s office or whatever.

I had two subplots set up. I settled on only one additional subplot. The other subplot will appear in a later book in the series.

It’s more than what you saw here

I really believe these expansions enrich the main storyline and provide some additional perspective and background for Terry’s character. They also help to show how Terry’s character changes from his growing awareness of, and interactions with, criminals.

As an additional result, there have been significant additions to the story, which I think will be interesting to people who have read the chapters published here.

My new plan for the MFS substack is to publish serialized stories and then prepare them, through enrichment and expansion, for longer-format publishing. That way, you can check out a story on MFS and, if you decide to buy the accompanying book, you’ll get more value for you money than if I simply format the MFS-serialized manuscripts and toss them up on Amazon.

Series potential?

I’ve had very positive feedback on the story and its characters through Substack, and I’ve begun planning a series. The additional length of the MFS novel does a much better job setting up the rest of the series, which I’ve currently planning to include three additional books. I’ll continue with the arc of Terry learning how to cope and survive in his new “career” and ultimately bring that to a conclusion. What that may be, and who survives and who does not… we’ll have to see.

Cover art reveal

The feedback on this design from the beta reviewer is a solid thumb’s up. I think the design reflects the tone of the story and sets up an appropriate reader expectation… I also think it’s a bit more sophisticated than the cover of The Good Killers. I switched to Canva for this cover design. I did the cover for TGK in app called LD, which is intended for photo manipulation. I’m liking Canva so far.

I’m still working on the tag line (what’s there is a placeholder) and will add some additional text… a teaser, maybe a quote.

Yes, that’s Luna on the cover. So much of the book hinges on her character so she deserves to be featured on the cover. Also, images of women do well with male and female readers, and the majority of mystery readers are women, so it makes sense from a marketing perspective. Cover art and design are other skills that indie authors have to learn! Fortunately I took some graphic design courses so it’s not totally foreign to me. I promise that when I get rich I’ll hire a real artist/designer.

Welcome New Subscribers!

Lastly, I’d like to give my sincere regards to the new subscribers and followers! I hope you’re able to find everything you want to see. Be sure to check out the Story Guides for chapter-by-chapter listings of the fiction on this site.

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